A second man has been charged with common assault in connection with the video which emerged last week showing Professor Chris Whitty being accosted by a group of men in London.
Jonathan Chew, 24, has also been charged with obstructing police and is set to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court later today.
A video uploaded to social media showed Prof Whitty looking troubled while being tormented by two men pressing him to pose with them in St. James’ Park on 27 June.
“I don’t think we did anything wrong. We just saw him and thought ‘That’s the guy from the TV. He’s famous,” Mr Chew told The Sun last Friday.
“We didn’t cause any harm to him. We just wanted a selfie.”
“We just wanted a selfie”
The footage generated much criticism with Boris Johnson denouncing the incident as “despicable harassment”, among others.
“I condemn the behaviour of these thugs. Our hardworking public servants should not have to face this kind of intimidation on our streets and we will not tolerate it,” said Mr Johnson.
The 20-second-long video shows one of the men grab Prof Whitty, who then manages to free himself, while they shout “oi oi” and “one photo please?”
A well-loved public figure within the realms of social media, many Twitter-users flocked to Whitty’s side to condemn the footage.
This is an utterly disgusting way to treat a person who has devoted his time to save our lives. These complete and utter imbeciles must be found and dealt with. Meanwhile @BorisJohnson please provide Chris Whitty with security. pic.twitter.com/PzAwgoqbMJ
— Adil Ray OBE 💙 (@adilray) June 28, 2021
Not retweeting the video but find the abuse of Chris Whitty walking in public deeply distressing and depressing.
— sean holland (@seanhollandOSS) June 28, 2021
Whatever disagreements you may have about covid policy, I think we can all agree that Chris Whitty’s treatment in that video is awful.
— Kit Yates (@Kit_Yates_Maths) June 29, 2021
No scientist deserves to be harassed like that for doing their job.
I’m embarrassed to be part of a society in which that has happened.
“I don’t think we did anything wrong. We just saw him and thought ‘That’s the guy from the TV. He’s famous,” Mr Chew told The Sun last Friday.
“We didn’t cause any harm to him. We just wanted a selfie.”
Lewis Hughes
Last week, Lewis Hughes, 23, of Romford, was also charged with common assault and is set to face the courts on 30 July.
Hughes has since apologised for accosting the chief medical officer, insisting there was no malicious intent in his actions.
He said: “I absolutely apologise for any upset I caused.
“If I made him feel uncomfortable, which it does look like I did, then I am sorry to him for that.”
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